Hello,

 

it’s a long time since I’ve been on here as I sold my Fabian Vrs about 7 years ago. I’m looking at a Citigo as they seem the best value of the trio, although I’d really like an Up gti, but don’t tell anyone. 
 

I’ve  researched a few issues but not sure if they just relate to the Skoda or all three. Firstly it’s the rusty filler housing and wheel arches. Is that just Skoda? Does the up come with arch liners that the Skoda doesn’t?

 

I’m looking at a 2015 SE-l greentech and it looks good but I’m assuming this should have had its cam belt done. I would probably prefer the facelift but the budget won’t stretch. 
 

Anything obvious to look out for?

 

many thanks. 

Our 68 reg car did not have arch liners. If you keep hosing that area out it should stop the rust developing 

Lack of wheel arch liners applied to Up! as well.

My 2019 Citigo came with wheel arch liners as standard.

Thanks all. 
 

Picked up my first Citigo today. Drove the 2 year old 1.5tsi dsg Seat Ateca 80 miles as a part exchange. The new Citigo is a 65 plate greentech SE-L so a bit of a downgrade on paper. I haven’t driven a Citigo before so it was a bit of an unknown but the Seat was too much car for us and we needed a small one for short journeys. 

So, what were my first impressions driving it back on A and B roads through Kent and Surrey? I was expecting an underpowered tin box that did the job is was meant to, I wasn’t expecting something that was quite so much fun. There were a lot of national speed limit B roads and, by ‘eck, I’ve haven’t driven such a fun car in years! Keep it in fourth for the most part and third for the slower corners and it comes alive and laps up the road. Brilliant brakes, superb body control over bumpy roads, decent enough steering (though posssibly a bit light although not a problem), good gearbox if I remember the correct hand position from second to third, and all within reasonable speeds. 

I overtook a few vehicles without issue but have to say I’m glad of the 75bhp. Keeping the foot in when in second gear up to 5500rpm brings on a nice reserve of top end power up to around 50 I think. I did try to keep it in third on the 60mph twisty roads but it was better in fourth using the torque band, unless it was a sharper corner. Quite a spread of useable revs in a given gear which is really refreshing coming from the narrow power band of diesel turbos. 

Coming onto the motorway I held it in third up to the top end of the range and it got up to speed well, but fourth would have been fine. 

It understeered a bit on some tight bumpy corners but was predictable. I didn’t really push it too hard to see if it would bring the back end in, but it doesn’t seem like that sort of car - it’s fun enough without having to slide around. 

The motorway was fine, if noisier than the Ateca, but the engine sounds quite good and can still pick up speed. 

Some vibration at idle but minimal, more of a thrum. Might be because it’s got 35000 miles on it. Doesn’t rattle and feels really solid. 

51mpg average for that journey and that reflects the style of driving. 

Seems easy around town, not the fastest off the line but perfectly adequate. 

So, there you go, it appears I quite like it.

I love my Citigo, the most fun I've had in a car since I had an old mini. The Up Gti must be an absolute hoot.

 

Nice write up@sthodgson , I tend to agree that driving tiddler cars is a lot more fun than most realise.

I've got a now 18 yo Toyota Echo 1.3L manual that is still a hoot to drive.

I have prevaricated over its replacement and the price of new and second hand cars has gone up so much that I am losing interest in replacing a perfectly functional runabout that still gives good economy. 

I recently looked up the Citigo engine specs for another thread and was blown away by what it offers for its tiny size.

I am not really interested in the power but the torque on offer. A really good NA engine target is 100Nm per litre engine size, this is rarely achieved and then usually at very high revs. My 1.3 L offers a useful 122Nm of torque at 4400rpm a high percentage of the target which pretty reasonable for its generation but note that the max 63kW of power is at 6000rpm so a relatively small power band.

However when you look at the Citigo engine you get an unusually high 95Nm for the one litre engine but at the incredibly low 3000 rpm with max power of 55kW at 6200rpm. I am not sure there is any other production NA petrol engine offering such a wide range and driving flexibility.

These numbers are not going to give the car anything other than adequate on-road performance but I think the real difference is its relative efficiency compared to my older generation engine.

Only the Up! was sold in Australia for a short time, but I keep my eye out for a tidy low mileage version but they are as rare as hen's teeth and usually a couple of thousand km away interstate :( 

Just out of curiosity what revs does yours show at 70mph?

 

@sthodgson 

Did you check the tyre pressures and adjust them, and what tyres are on the Citigo?

I only did a short stretch of motorway so didn’t check the rpm. I noticed the speedo said about 75 while the sat nag said around 70. Didn’t seem noisy but plenty of torque still left. 
 

Tyre pressures were 30 front and 30 back when I picked it up. Changed to 32 front which seems perhaps a touch firmer. Bridgestone on the back and Nexxen on the front. Getting around 40-45mpg on the short journeys. 
 

There might be a knocking from the rear suspension so that is worth an investigation. 
 

The PID is proving a bit of a faff. I think I’ll be better with a phone mount but will use it for certain functions. 
 

My wife really likes it too - reminds her of her first car, a mk2 golf, in that you just get in and drive it without it beeping and shouting at you. Good result. 
 

The torque is quite surprising making it easy to drive around town and 2nd gear offers a lot of flexibility. I can see why people are happy with the 60bho version. However, I do like the way it pulls to the red line when joining fast roads, the extra power high up is a good thing. I don’t think most people use high revs in cars, so it’s a hidden feature, but it’s good to know it’s there to be used when needed.
 

After a few days with it I still think it’s a great little machine. 

> "Might be because it’s got 35000 miles on it". 

 

The PTFE reinforced cam belt and trioval cam gears will be due and inspection (and replace as necessary) at 160k miles, there's no specified time limit.